Astra satellite operator SES celebrates 25 years of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite reception from its orbital position 19.2° East in Germany.
On December 8, 1989 the first three German TV channels commenced their distribution on Astra 1A: RTL, Sat.1 and ProSieben. Today, the Astra lineup at 19.2° East contains more than 400 German-language TV and radio channels; around 90 of the TV channels are offered in HD quality.
With a reach of around 18.1 million households, Astra now serves almost half of Germany’s 38.5 million TV households (see chart). In Austria the share amounts to 56%: 2 million out of around 3.6 million TV households.
At the occasion on the 25 year anniversary, market research institute TNS Emnid asked the German TV viewers on which devices they mainly watch television: With 92% the TV set by far tops the computer, smartphone and tablet.
This also refers to younger people, although the computer gains in importance as a replacement for the TV set with a share of 19% . However, the majority of three quarters of the people interviewed for the survey between 14 and 29 years of age say that they still mainly use the TV set for TV consumption.
